Classic Tracks

Eric Prydz (SWE)

Producer / DJ

Prydz is perhaps best known for his 2004 hit single “Call on Me”, which samples the Steve Winwood hit “Valerie”. It topped the UK singles chart for five weeks and was number one on the German Top 100 for six consecutive weeks. Although this track made him immensely popular, Eric has stopped playing it in his shows in an attempt to distance himself from it. In some respects he has succeeded, and with his newer songs, Eric has gained recognition from both underground and mainstream fans. In 2006, he released a remixed version of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2”, titled “Proper Education”, with a video. He was also the only artist ever to be given permission to sample Pink Floyd.

Together with Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello, Prydz formed a group of DJs that informally referred to themselves as the Swedish House Mafia. When the group with the same name officially formed in late 2008, Prydz decided not to join his friends. He has collaborated with Axwell under the name Axer and with Angello as A&P Project.

In 2009, Prydz released “Miami to Atlanta”, which is when the Pryda snare was first used. The Pryda snare is a popular technique in house and trance music consisting of using a compressed and sustained snare sample at the end of a bar. Commonly used to mark progressions in a song structure, many consider it to be one of the most sampled sounds in the electronic dance music world, which is notably used by producers such as Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and W&W.

Eric Prydz performing at Amnesia in Ibiza, 2012

On 21 May 2012, Prydz released his debut artist album as a 3 disc set through Virgin Records. Disc 1 is made up of new unreleased Pryda productions, which some fans may have heard as works in progress (including Shadows, Agag, Mighty Love, Allein and the intro edit of Pjanoo). Discs 2 and 3 bring together many of the classic tracks from the Pryda catalogue, sequenced and mixed by the man himself, including some of his special re-edits.

The Ministry of Sound club in London hosted the launch of Eric Prydz Presents Pryda on 14 April 2012, where Eric played some of the tracks from the album. Inserting the CD in a computer and visiting Eric Prydz’s Facebook page provides access to a download of ‘Tijuana’, a track previously known as ‘Space Miami ID’ in .WAV format.

His 2013 Essential Mix was named Essential Mix of the Year by Pete Tong.

2014 was the 10th year of Prydz’s label Pryda Recordings, and as a result, on 9 January 2014, Prydz announced a special upcoming artist album which was initially due for release later that year. On 4 May 2015, Prydz announced PR(10)DA, a collection of unreleased tracks from January 2004 to December 2014. PRYDA was released over three EPs, leading up to an album release in February 2016.

On 19 May 2014, Prydz announced via social media the third installment of his concert, Eric Prydz in Concert, titled EPIC 3.0. Promising the ‘world’s largest indoor hologram’, new music, and new visuals, the show was to be held at Madison Square Garden during the Fall. Prydz performed his EPIC 3.0 show on 27 September 2014, playing a large range of new and unreleased material. The show incorporated a 20m, 4K hologram, and 32 lasers.

On 4 July 2015, Prydz was the first DJ with a set featured as a “One Mix” on Beats 1, the worldwide radio station on Apple Music.

On 5 February 2016, Prydz released his debut album Opus.

On 28 June 2016, Prydz collaborated with Luke Versalko from Mashable to produce a short documentary that details the making of his Epic 4.0 show.